Rosso

The best way to approach this disarming Finnish import is to imagine a mock existential road movie, set in and around Helsinki, where a burned-out Sicilian gunman is given orders to redeem himself by killing a woman who was once his lover. Of course nothing proceeds as expected, for either the reluctant assassin or for unsuspecting viewers. Against his better judgment, the hapless killer joins forces with his intended target's irrepressible brother, and despite the language barrier between them begins an aimless quest the length and breadth of Scandinavia, at first for the elusive, beautiful Marja, but finally for any way out of his spiritual crisis. In the end he finds neither, and as a result the film is little more than a low-key (if often engaging) shaggy dog story, drawing from both European and American role models, but shaded with a lackadaisical midnight sun mentality.

It's just as implausible and unlikely as the title of this review says. Giancarlo Rosso, a Sicilian hit man, gets a job to kill someone in Finland. His new target is Maria, who'm he have had an affair with a long time ago. Rosso arrives in Helsinki, buys weapons, and finds her apartment empty, except of her brother Martti. Neither speak common language. And there starts the road movie.

This film is very Kaurismäki, which means it's both full of black comedy and an odd look at Italian and Finnish everyday life. Strange as they might be, they are quite normal people. Different as they might be, the hit man and Maria'æs brother, they find each other in a bottle of vodka.

Kaursmäki style the film is not flashy, but slow going noir inspired, held in a bleak Finnish autumn. the film is full of Sicilian orchestral music, as suited any mob movie, and it makes us really wonder how wonderful this both suits the Finnish landscape, and what we sees as Finnish.

Difficult not to like this film, which clocks in on a likable 76 minutes.